Orochimaru Sensei
by AngelForm
Summary: There are many stories where Naruto or team seven gets a different sensei, but never have they been under a loyal snake lord. Slight Ranma crossover.
1. The New Sensei

This story came about after I realised that even though jutsu is supposedly the heart of ninja combat no one really makes much use of it. Even Kakashi of the thousand jutsu almost never uses anything but his signature move. So why not give team seven a teacher that actually does make heavy use of jutsu? And who better than an AU Orochimaru. Then I had to come up with a short-ish explanation for him staying loyal and things kind of developed from there.

Hopefully you will find this at least somewhat amusing.

**Prologue: Introduction  
**Konoha ninja academy  
Team assignment day

The newly formed teams were settling back into the classroom following lunch. Some were sitting together, adapting to their new circumstances. Other teams… were not so unified. Shortly Iruka entered, gave one last speech to his former students, than began ushering in the new senseis. Each had a unique style, as befits the highly independent elite jonin, but the person who entered for team seven stood out.

Her skin was albino white while her long, straight hair was red. She wore a loose long sleeve cream-coloured shirt along with basic ninja legging and sandals in dark grey. Her eyes were yellow and slitted like those of a cat or snake. The most important thing about her however, was that she looked no older than twelve.

Predictably Naruto protested, "But she's just a little girl. I want a better sensei!"

Faster than most present could follow the girls hand shot out, snakes lunging from her sleeve. Naruto yelped as the snakes wrapped around him.

"Brat, I am Orochimaru no Sannin, sage and tamer of the snake and one of the strongest ninja you will ever meet. My current form is the result of mostly successful attempt to prevent aging. Disrespect me again and I shall test how well your vaunted regeneration deals with poison. Now, you and the rest of team 7 meet me on the roof."

XXXXXX

Once they were all on the roof Orochimaru began, "Now I know almost nothing about any of you so you're going to tell me who you are, what you like doing and what you hope to achieve. As loud mouth seems so eager we'll have the Uchiha go first."

Ignoring Naruto's cry of protest Sasuke grunted before answering. "Sasuke Uchiha, I like training and my ambition is to rebuild my clan and kill a certain person."

Nodding slightly as if she had confirmed something Orochimaru turned to Sakura, "Ok, you next girl."

"My name is Sakura Haruno, I like…" she glanced at Sasuke "…my ambition is…" she glanced at Sasuke again and squealed.

"How informative. Your turn brat."

Untroubled by his sensei's sarcastic tone the irrepressible Naruto announced, "I'm Naruto Uzumaki! I like Raman and I'm gonna be Hokage!"

The Sannin thought about this for a few moments, totally ignoring Sakura's timidly raised hand. Finally she spoke. "Well. Sasuke you're a fool. If you plan on rebuilding your clan you should make a start before confronting your brother. If you face him without years, maybe decades, more training he will kill you. Even I would struggle against him as the two of us are now.

Sakura you're a fangirl and the only reason I'm not throwing you off my team right now is that your academic scores show that you do actually have a brain. Naruto, there are a lot of reasons for wanting to be Hokage and I highly doubt you have the right one. Even if you do it will be a long time before Konoha needs another leader. Now …."

"Wait! You haven't told us about you yet! Its only fair."

"Brat if you don't know who I am then you're a bigger idiot than I thought, which is saying something."

"…Um sensei, could you tell us how you ended up… looking like that? All they ever told us was that it was an experiment gone wrong."

Glancing at Sakura who had spoken Orochimaru considered, "Normally it would be none of you business but, it may help you two put some thought into what you are doing. It started with…

End prologue.

Next time: the story of how Orochi-chan came to be!  
I don't intend for this to be a long fic, just a backstory then the genin test but we shall see if my muse comes up with anything after that.


	2. The New Girl

**Disclaimer: still don't own Naruto, stop asking.**

**How things came to be.**

Konoha  
Two years before the Kyuubi attack

"You can't retire!"

Hiruzen smiled sadly, "The war is over Orochimaru. It's time we had a new leader, someone to hold Konoha together without an external threat hanging over us."

"Konoha has been on the edge of civil war from the moment it was founded. The strength of the Hokage keeps everyone in line and despite my best efforts even I cannot claim to be your equal, or even close."

"There is more to the position of Hokage than power, my student. Just as there is more to leading than giving orders. Even were it as you say I'm getting old, no one can fight old age."

When Orochimaru failed to answer the Hokage looked up to see a considering look on the younger man's face. Finally he whispered, "…or can you?" before rushing out.

XXXXXX

"Your asking me for help? You. The genius. Are asking me. The dead last. For help."

"A true genius uses the correct tool for the job. You've always been better at gathering information from outside than me, even before you started building your network. If all else fails I can try researching from scratch but having something to start from would speed the process up immensely."

"You actually admitted I'm better at something than you."

"Damn it Jiraiya are you going to help or not?!"

"What? Oh sure, I just need to imprint this moment on my mind permanently, its like may never come again."

XXXXXX

One month later

"Yo Orochimaru, you getting anywhere?"

The snake Sannin shot his former team mate a glare before sighing, "No. If even Tsunade can't come up with a way of keeping the body alive indefinitely then I'm not going to have much luck. Your network turned up anything?"

"Not much, cheating death may be a fairly common pastime but not many people seem to get anywhere. I got a few leads on this foreign book, nekonomcom or some such, or you could try finding a fountain of youth."

"I'd rather avoid any gaijin rubbish. What are these fountains and why isn't everyone using them?"

"They're all in hard to find places and have something guarding them. The one I found the location for is in some cursed mountain valley called Jusenkyo…"

XXXXXX

The Jusenkyo guide sighed as he heard the splash. There had been such hope in these two, Orochimaru and his apprentice Anko. They had come to his hut to ask for information rather than just walk straight in. They had listened carefully when he explained the dangers of the springs. How anyone who fell in one of the many pools would be cursed to take the form of whatever had drowned in that particular pool whenever they came into contact with cold water. How people would either be doomed to become cursed no matter how careful they were, or able to stroll through the springs blind, dependant on the will of the kami.

Orochimaru claimed he was a ninja and that it would be well within his ability to get the samples he wanted safely. He scoffed when the guide told him that no one could even get close to a pool they were not destined to fall into. So he had shown them the pool of Drowned Young Girl, which always gave the cursed the form of a twelve year old red-headed girl, as was his duty as guide.

The man had approached without difficulty and bent down to collect some water. At which point Sannin Orochimaru, who could balance on the tip of a kunai, slipped. And fell.

Anko screamed and raced for the pool, or tried at least. As she neared she tripped, ramming her face into the hard packed earth. With speed the guide could not hope to follow she was back up, a faint blue glow connecting her feet to the ground. Two steps later she fell again, a clod of earth ripping from the ground under her foot. She growled and leapt, still determined to help the struggling figure in the pool. As she reached the top of her arc a bird collided with her throwing both back towards the ground. Anko landed safely on solid earth. The bird, possibly a raven or a crow, splashed down a few pools over.

At which point the figure in the spring of Drowned Young Girl had managed to get a grip on the side and lever herself out. The pools had claimed another victim.

They helped the redhead inside and set the kettle to heat up, it was important to know what temperature the curse was set at. That spring tended to give high temperatures, not as high as the spring of drowned guide which was always just slightly below boiling, but above what a human would normally be considered to withstand. After several attempts they discovered it was eighty degrees - far too high for regular switching. Oddly Orochimaru was fairly pleased with what had happened, annoyed that he got a dunking but pleased that he got the effect he was hoping for and optimistic that he could find a way to remove the undesirable side effects. The guide was rather pessimistic about that. For thousands of years people had spent lives trying to find a cure but none had ever succeeded.

Then he explained the less obvious drawback of the curse. Unlike with full species changes he did not have the muscle memory for his new body, hence why her movements were so clumsy. Oddly this seemed to worry the man far more that the prospect of being female itself did. He also warned them that the kami of the pool may try to prevent him staying male for any length of time. Eventually they decided to rest for the night before continuing their research the next day.

XXXXXX

The guide was sorry to see the pair leave a week later. He did not often get company and they had been fine entertainment.

On the first night the huts roof had leaked, for the first time in the guides memory, and Orochimaru had awoken small and female. Fortunately Anko was small enough that her clothes could be made to fit with minimal adjustment. Wisely choosing not to scald her other wrist to reverse the change Orochi-chan headed outside with Anko to 'assess the capabilities' of this new form. That was a show the guide would not soon forget. For most of an hour they duelled, and even with an unfamiliar and unconditioned body the smaller girl was able to hold her own. Eventually however stamina won out and the apprentice proved the stronger.

The next day however Orochi-chan, fully recovered, set about collecting samples for her research. However the kami seemed to have decreed that neither of the two was to come within reach of any pool, and were going to amazing lengths to ensure this was the case. For four days ninja tricks and skills battled coincidence and pure chance to retrieve water from the pool. Finally the ninja succeeded, only to be met with disappointment. It turned out that once removed from the pool the water was just that, water. The curse rested in the place, not the liquid. After two further days of fruitless attempts they conceded defeat.

Once they departed the guide set about putting them in the records. One more notch for Drowned Young Girl, a wealth of information about how the springs work and replacing the last record holder of 'most time spent at the springs without a curse'. The gods must truly love that Anko. Maybe they owed her a favour from the last life?

XXXXXX

Konoha, Hokage's office

'_Well, its certainly the strangest mission report I've ever read, although its hard to disbelieve when the evidence is staring you in the face, literally.' _He had to admit that the girl did have a strong resemblance to his student, a sister or cousin perhaps. However what truly convinced him was the small snake perched on the end of Sarutobi's desk that had confirmed, amidst much snickering, that the girl was indeed Orochimaru the Snake Sage.

"So you do not intend to continue this line of research? You have made more progress than I thought possible."

"No, this method is flawed beyond use. I have achieved supposedly eternal youth but at far too high a price. From the report Jiraiya put together all methods of immortality exact a high price. In any case I have far more pressing matters at the moment."

"Then you won't be robbing me of my retirement after all. Guess I'll need to choose a successor."

"Minato, no one else is even close to good enough."

"Hmm? I thought you wanted the job, why support your main rival?"

Having known Orochimaru for years and seen his limitless confidence, the girl's defeated expression was deeply perturbing. "Look at me Hiruzen, who would follow a little girl? Even if we didn't get attacked outright we would be seen as weak. Even if not for my appearance there's no way I could stand as Hokage, not now."

"How much power did you lose?"

"…I'm just barely B-rank."

The old man winced at that. His advancing years _were_ getting to him and he lamented every gram of strength, every millisecond of reaction time and every sliver of chakra his body yielded to the ravages of time. To suddenly be stripped of the bulk of your power? To be reduced from a champion to a mere footman? To people that had achieved so much that was truly a horrific fate.

Before he could offer his sympathies she smirked, the same 'I have already won, I just don't know how yet' smirk that Orochimaru had first shown in a long ago bell test.

"But I will recover my strength and I will earn the title Hokage. After all… I have plenty of time."

XXXXXX

Konoha  
Just before the Kyuubi attack

Orochimaru was heading for the Hokage's office. When Minato Namikaze summoned a full ninja council it always meant something of great import had happened. Although whether wonderful, terrible, political or personal was impossible to determine. He was expecting a child very soon, although the seemingly young girl was hoping it wasn't that as her bet was on 'Shout that his son was born from the top of the monument,' and would hate to lose to Danzo. Better than Jiraiya though, who had taken an outside chance on his student repeating what he had done upon hearing that he was going to be a father. Namely teleporting from one end of the village to the other telling everyone the news. Individually.

Orochimaru had spent a fair amount of time around Minato since Sarutobi stepped down. As she spent so much time out in the training grounds he would often teleport over to see how she looked at a problem. The first time she asked him why he wanted her help and he said, "I think like a leader, with my people's well-being always foremost. You think like a ninja, looking for the best to do something by any means. Its easier to find the right way if you look at something from more than one direction."

As it turned out all the Hokage had made sure to keep a devils advocate around, although Danzo was the only one to ever hold political power, and Minato trusted Orochimaru more than anyone else who was willing to disagree with him. The fact she was always training and thus easy to locate was also a bonus.

Training. Something that had taken up almost all her time since he became a she. So many projects and experiments, so many plans she had abandoned in favour of trying to regain lost strength. She wasn't quite at the S-rank level he had possessed but she could stand toe-to-toe with any AAA-rank you could name, for a while anyway as endurance was still a big limiter for her.

Oddly some of the plans she had been forced to delay didn't sound like such a good idea now. Especially without a good supply of expendable test subjects around. Once she may have regarded Konoha ninja drop-outs as expendable but now…? That's what she got from spending so much time with an idealist like Minato. That probably wasn't help by Kushina finding out about the large sweet tooth Orochimaru's new form came with.

Her musings were cut short as she arrived at the office and saw the Hokage's expression, deadly serious. _Not good then, and probably not personal either._

This was confirmed when, after all available council members were present, he announced, "Scouts report that the Kyuubi is heading for Konoha, it will be at our walls in minutes…

End of Chapter

**  
This chapter was going to be longer, showing the aftermath of the battle and some more development. However it occurred to me that I have never seen the battle of the Kyuubi depicted in more detail than 'It happened, it was horrible' and that this was an excellent opportunity to have a go at it.**

**The part at Jusenkyo I simply could not get to work right, even after several re-writes, so rather than delay this update any further I will simply ask that you tolerate the failings of an inexperienced author.**

**Reviews and constructive criticism are welcome as always.**


	3. The New Nightmare

**Disclaimer: still don't own Naruto. Nor do I own any of the works mentioned or referenced in this chapter.**

_**The New Nightmare **_

_Konoha, Hokage's office  
__Minutes before Kyuubi's arrival_

_Minato's shout cut through the cries of fear and denial the news had caused, "We don't have time to argue! Yamamoto, organise the genin squads and get the civilians to the shelters. Ikari, have the ANBU scatter around the village wall and scout to the edge of the seal web, make sure no one is using this to sneak up on us. Orochimaru, take Anko, Rei, Andoryuu, Asuka and Yuuno. Engage with Summons before it gets into the valley and starts bombarding us. Sarutobi, take two long range teams and give the summons what support you can. Hiashi, keep your…"_

_Orochimaru raced from the room to gather her force. Anko, Asuka and Yuuno were at the main assembly point, responding to the emergency alert now spreading through Konoha. Rei and Andoryuu had genin squads and took precious moments to collect. Still, in just under six minutes the redhead arrived on the ridge east of Konoha. It was there they beheld the might of the Kyuubi._

_Despite the aura of malevolent chakra they had been sensing since leaving Konoha's walls the beast was smaller than Orochimaru had expected. Oh it was undeniably huge, half as large again as any boss summons, but it was still far from the mountain sized colossus the stories told of. Nor was it solid chakra, formless and invulnerable. It was a physical being. They could _hurt it.

The ninja spread out to give their summons room before beginning to call forth their allies.

Orochimaru gathered seventy percent of her available chakra, more than sufficient for a boss, and projected her request into the jutsu. Given the horrible situation and the snakes opinion of her, Orochimaru was not hopeful of getting much.

When he learned of Orochimaru's curse Manda decreed that, sacrifices or no sacrifices, he would not fight for a little girl. Manda couldn't revoke the contract or order this clan not to help the 'disgrace to serpents and ninja alike.' However he had threatened to kill any of his clan if he discovered they had aided Orochimaru. Fortunately the snake boss's authority was far from uncontested and Orochimaru found his call answered by Lirian, one of the snake lieutenants.

Orochimaru chuckled, _'Should have known she would answer. She always disagreed with Manda about how things should be run.'_ Around the gigantic snake were six smaller, although still huge, serpents. Direct children of Lirian most likely. Looking to either side she saw the other summons that had come to the aid of Konoha.

To her left an exhausted but proud Anko stood atop the head of Vaarsuvius, another of the snake lieutenants. _'Vaarsuvius is Manda's favourite, if he's here then he must be using this as his opening bid for power. To bad he is as bloodthirsty and condescending as his father.'_

Beyond Anko stood Byakko, the tiger boss. The white and black tiger was the largest summons ever called to battle, but even so Rei's ally looked small compared to the Fox.

On the end of the line Yuuno, the least experienced of the summoners, had been joined by a trio of giant ferrets, none large enough to be a boss or even a lieutenant. Still in this battle any help would be worth its weight in gold.

To the right Andoryuu had brought forth Jorougumo the spider boss. Despite the snakes and spiders both having an unsavoury reputation in Konoha the spider queen was almost the polar opposite of Manda. That said, rumour had it that she made demands of her male summoner almost as outrageous as the snakes payment of snackrifices.

On the other side of Andoryuu was a huge ape with Asuka perched on one shoulder. Orochimaru had never come into contact with the apes or their summoner so didn't know who this creature was. But it was clearly a boss and the metallic look of the giant's fur was encouraging.

Seeing the creatures arrayed before it the Kyuubi roared in challenge. The titans of Konoha charged.

XXXXXX

Byakko met Kyuubi head on and they began trading claw swipes of terrible force. The tiger was smaller, but more solidly built and the two proved equal. Jorougumo leapt far to the side, launching a stream of webbing at the fox's tails and immobilising many. The ape circled round the duelling beasts before moving in to grasp two of Kyuubi's tails. Anchoring itself to the ground with its hind feet it heaved, pulling the fox off balance.

With all Kyuubi's weapons occupied the smaller summons swarmed forward, snakes lashing out to inject poison into legs and underbelly while the ferrets scrambled onto the behemoths back and began digging for the spine with tooth and claw. The summoners unleashed their own barrage, those with chakra to spare using jutsu while the others made do with tagged kunai. For a moment it actually seemed they might prevail.

Then the Kyuubi countered. Fire exploded into being along its tails, immolating the webbing restringing them although the great ape took little heed of the fire writhing in its fists. The tails lashed out, smashing the ferrets from Kyuubi's back before launching a fusillade of fireballs at the snakes and summoners forcing them to withdraw.

Before any of them could recover the tails swept back, attacking, not the ape itself, but the ground under it. Robbed of its leverage it could do nothing as the tails seized it and catapulted it forward towards Byakko. Both bosses went tumbling away.

Sensing a chance for unmatched glory Vaarsuvius lunged for Kyuubi's throat, eager to prove himself a match of any boss. With a speed that should be impossible for such a colossal being the nine-tail's head snapped round. Jaws larger than a house closed around the snake's skull. And crushed. Snapping its head back Kyuubi flung Vaarsuvius into the air, where a fire sheathed tail impaled him, roasting the snake from the inside.

Summons are very, very hard to kill. Not just because of their size and power but because de-summoning wipes away a lot of damage. Thus even fatal wounds like having a skull stove in were unlikely to permanently kill. However even this immense durability has limits. The charred body fell to the ground. Dead creatures didn't return to their home plain.

Despite its many wounds and the tons of lethal poison flowing through it the Kyuubi roared in triumph at its kill. Then it looked to the bosses rising before it… and grinned.

Once more the titans charged.

XXXXXX

Sarutobi's force arrived on the ridge several minutes after the summons engaged. The Third Hokage had delayed carrying out his orders to ask his successor a question.

"_What about you Minato? Its not like you to lead from the back. Where will you be?"_

_The look Minato gave Sarutobi was one of adamant determination and deadly seriousness, "Finishing a weapon to win this fight."_

That disturbed Sarutobi greatly. He knew of only a handful of jutsu that stood any chance of stopping a Bijuu and all were suicide moves. Better than the alternative though. Bijuu had been defeated before, even killed on one occasion, but only by selling the lives of whole armies to slowly exhaust them. It had taken the combined might of five ninja clans, over fifteen hundred ninja, to beat back the four tails. Could even Konoha, strongest of the great villages, stop the nine tails? Especially given how weak they were from the last war.

He put such though from his mind as the battle came into sight. A great ape was grappling with Kyuubi, trying to rip the larger creatures jaw off. The fox's tails were occupied duelling a spider. Three snakes had wrapped themselves around one foreleg while the other was nailed to the ground with stone pillars.

Off to the side a tiger was struggling to rise, its shoulders and forelegs a mass of cut and burnt flesh. Beside it a ferret flashed out of existence, its wound too severe for it to continue.

"Remember, aim for its eyes and any open wounds and make sure you don't hit a friendly."

Putting actions to words the old man dug into his immense range of jutsu for a long range lightning technique. None of the other elements would be effective at such range and getting closer at this stage was far too risky.  
"Raiton: Heaven's Javelin!"

XXXXXX

As the last of the summons, the great armoured ape admitted defeat and de-summoned. Orochimaru took stock of her battered force. Losses had been heavy, both on summons and summoners. One boss, a lieutenant and three warriors along with two of their summoners. Even if they lost nothing else today they had been struck a heavy blow.

Orochimaru signalled to the others to withdraw. They had delayed for as long as they could, or so she thought.

Behind them Kyuubi roared triumphantly to the heavens, its cry changing to a scream as nine bolts of lightning impacted its eye. Another nine bolts followed, but more raggedly as each ninja completed their jutsu as fast as possible.

Writhing in agony, Kyuubi turned to the source of its pain. And leapt. Orochimaru watched in horror as only eight ninja scattered, her sensei standing his ground and calmly going through hand signs as hundreds of tons of demonic flesh bore down on him. A moment before the colossal maw crashed home the old man thrust one hand forward and yelled, **"Raiton: Plasma Lance!" **

There was a flash to put even true lightning to shame. Even through closed eyelids Orochimaru could see the bones of her forearm. When the light and sound died away she rushed to Sarutobi's side as he slumped to the ground. Above them the fox staggered, its charge stopped dead even as its head vaporised.

"Sensei? Are you alright?" Her only answer was a tired nod.

Hearing a distinctive hissing the small ninja looked up, to where Kyuubi's neck was regrowing. After a second she shook herself, grabbed the old man and ran, racing for the transient safety of Konoha's wall. A moment later the others joined them. In her head Orochimaru was counting. At forty-two a deafening roar sounded before the fox, healed of all its many wounds, crested the ridge.

"Does nothing stop that thing?"

"Eventually."

The somewhat recovered ninja extricated himself from the girl's grasp and began running with the others.

"The scrolls say that it took an army a day and a night to wear down the Yonbi. Till the very end no wound lasted more than a few moments."

Dozens of thin streams of fire flew overhead, raining down on the outskirts of Konoha.

"I only hope we delayed it long enough…"

XXXXXX

In years to come the Hokage would often think back to the many acts of heroism that day. The lives given to slow Kyuubi's seemingly unstoppable advance. From the famous actions of great names…

_Koga Inuzuka, flanked by his faithful hounds Inuyasha and Sesshomaru, grinned as he went through hand seals. With a pulse of chakra the three vanished into a cloud of smoke. When it cleared they had been replaced with a monster. The Cerberus's three heads growling at the fox before it._

_A hundred feet ahead of the monstrous hound a squad of chunin were volleying tagged kunai at the colossus. Suddenly a pair of tails, wreathed in flame, swung down at them._

_With a roar the great hound leapt forward, the chakra inherent in its form throwing it into a spin and transforming it into a drill of phenomenal power. The descending tails meet rising fangs. Blood, fur and flesh exploded as the Cerberus eviscerated its way along the tails._

_The fox cried out and turned to face the hound as it landed. After shaking its three heads to clear the dizziness the hound leapt once more, aiming for its foes throat. One huge paw rose and fell, deflecting the tooth tipped projectile even as it was shredded._

_Crashing into the ground before Kyuubi the Cerberus slowly struggled to its feet. Too slowly, as the great maw descended. Closed. Crushed._

… to the anonymous efforts of unknown ninja.

_Nanashi saw a medic treating a fallen shinobi as a wall of fire fell upon them. Rushing forward he was just barely in time to halt the blaze with a Fire Wall jutsu. The wall trembled as it assimilated staggering amounts of energy._

_Having removed a shard of half-burnt wood from his patient's leg the medic-nin nodded to their rescuer before grabbing the man beneath him and running._

_Unable to move while maintaining the jutsu Nanashi could only pray that his chakra held out longer than the assault. _

_A prayer that was not answered._

He would marvel at the desperate tactics employed and techniques used, some carefully considered…

_Makoto signalled to his team to move forward. Kyuubi was heavily favouring its left foreleg after Inuzuka-sama's attack and they intended to take advantage of that. _

_Using the latest jutsu barrage as cover three members closed within a few dozen feet of Kyuubi's right paw. Positioning themselves around it they flashed through seals and struck the ground. A trio of sharpened stone pillars shot from the ground at an angle, piercing the giant leg at almost the same point, nailing the beast to the ground._

_The forth team member stopped some way back, unrolling and activating a large water storage scroll. Marshalling her energies she began the long chain of hand signs for the Water Dragon, finishing just as her team mates launched their pillars. The dragon flew forward, its creator rushing in its wake. As the mass of water impacted at the spot the pillars met a second jutsu, Binding Water, reached out, turning tons of liquid into highly viscous sludge._

_Seeing a tail come round to defend the entrapped limb the team withdrew. Satisfied that even if there work only held a few moments, it was still a few moments in which the demon's advance had been halted._

…others, last second improvisations:

_Ryoga Body Flickered out as Kyuubi's paw came smashing down, carving yet another clearing through the forest. He landed next to a team just beginning to move as a shadow fell across them. Looking up he saw teeth larger than he was descending towards him. With no time to escape he slammed a foot into the ground, "Doton: Earth Dome!"_

_Chakra hardened earth rose around him. After a moment the world shook. Then tumbled. Something corrosive touched the edge of his dome. Even stronger than steel and inches thick his defence would last only seconds. _'Oh kami did it actually eat me? I need to get out of here!'

_Concentrating he called upon his secondary affinity and gathered wind around his hand. Making the needed seals he called out, "Futon: Shieldbreaker!" His right forearm was encased in a spinning drill of wind. It wasn't the rasengan but it was the best he had._

_Making a guess of which way was down he leapt, wind drill extended before him. As he moved the chakra holding the crumbling earth dome together faded and the structure disintegrated, even as one side was shredded by the wind technique. Burning demonic chakra surrounded him as his jutsu tunnelled its way through impossibly thick muscles._

_As he began to wonder if he would run out of chakra before he was roasted Ryoga felt the resistance before him vanish. He burst from the side Kyuubi's throat, catapulting into open air._

Reminisce with others about the fears they faced. The terror of a raw recruit…

_Newly promoted chunin Kuwabara trembled as the stared at the unholy colossus outside the wall. Its mere presence was a crushing weight. How could they to stand against a demon such as this? No wound stopped it. No defence withstood it. Men sold their lives just to delay it for a few seconds. He trembled as the urge to flee all but overwhelmed him._

_The rest of his team formed up around him on the wall. In each face he saw his own fear echoed. But he also saw determination. Even if he fled they would stay, and die all the quicker for his absence. His thoughts turned to his family, cowering in the shelter along with the families of his team mates and the ninja who had already fallen. _

_He turned back to face the demon as it moved ever closer to the walls. He would stand. For his family who were counting on him to defend them. For his comrades who depended on him to support them against the greatest foe any of them ever had or ever would face. And for the village to whom he owed so much. _

_Yes, he would stand._

…and the helplessness of those fated to watch.

_Hiashi Hyuga focused his Byakugan on the distant battle. He was stationed at the entrance to one of the shelters, ready to seal it shut should Kyuubi get inside the wall. It gave many hope to know that the Hokage was so sure of victory that he chose to keep one of Konoha's strongest clans away from the battle so they would be ready to defend the weakened village. But still it pained the young clan head to stand aside while his comrades fought._

_His clan would doubtless gain much honour and prestige in the coming years from being the most active of the clans but greater would be the personal shame they all felt from doing nothing while the city they had sworn to protect burned. But the Hokage had given them their orders and they would carry them out._

So many paid the ultimate price as they slowed Kyuubi's advance to a crawl. For more than an hour they had engaged the beast, blasting, cutting, dodging and dying. Till finally salvation arrived.

_Minato flashed into existence on the wall, a newborn child in his arms, on his back a scroll containing the greatest sealing array ever devised. _

_The man sighed as he set up the scroll. He was more than willing to make any sacrifice for the village but he had never dreamed he would need to ask such a sacrifice of his son. To be robbed of both parents and saddled with so heavy a burden within hours of coming into the world? He could only hope his wishes were honoured and Naruto would have the support he respect he deserved._

_As the Kyuubi drew within a hundred yards of the wall Minato, The Yellow Flash, Fourth Hokage, activated the seal._

End of Chapter

**AN: Well I finally got it working.**  
**I think I now understand why no one else seems to have written a Kyuubi battle, its damned boring. At least if you use canon.**  
**After writing it out a few times and failing miserably to like the result I decided to change Kyuubi, rather than having a sentient mass of energy destroying everything it comes into contact with I made it a physical creature. A very, very powerful one but still a flesh and blood being. This way the ninja actually have something to fight.**  
**I also ended up editing out most of the blow by blow combat, it just got too repetitive.**

**Anyway I hope you like the result and I thank you for your patienc****e. Next chapter I finally get to what this whole story was supposed to be about, Team 7 getting first hand experience of just what jutsu can do!**

**Oh I also put in a bunch of cameos, mostly for my own amusement, see if you can spot them all ;)**

**Reviews are always welcome.**


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